Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Mercedes drivers differ over Rosberg resurgence

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Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton hold differing opinions over the reasons for Rosberg's recent upturn in form.

While Hamilton wrapped up the drivers' championship in Austin three races ago, Rosberg has been on pole position at the last five rounds and converted each of the last two in to victory. The improved performances on Saturdays have been especially impressive, with Rosberg having previously scored just one pole position this season as Hamilton dominated by taking 11 of the first 12 on offer.

Asked if he thinks an increase in tyre pressures at the Italian Grand Prix could have had an an impact on his recent run of qualifying form, Rosberg replied: "No, I don’t.

"I don’t think so. I think I’ve just raised my game. That’s it."

However, while Rosberg claims it is a result of personal improvement, Hamilton says there is a different external factor which could have swung things in his team-mate's favour, having not been on pole position himself since Monza.

"Well, from Singapore onwards there’s been a change to the car – but whether or not that’s made a difference, I don’t know really. We’ll have to see. But it has changed since Singapore."

And while Rosberg says he had the measure of his team-mate in Brazil last weekend, the pair also disagree over who was the quicker driver.

"Contrary to what Nico was saying, there was one point where I was all over him but I just couldn’t get by," Hamilton said. "I just couldn’t get close enough in that last second and I did have the fastest lap, so I obviously had the pace."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.